


Don't Listen to Haru

by KingJulienne



Series: Certain Things You Don't Do With Swimmers [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Crack, Crack Fiction, Fluff, Gen, Haru gives advice, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:45:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4263732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingJulienne/pseuds/KingJulienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ren has some problems with his bathing suit, so Haru gives him some advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Listen to Haru

The first time Haru and Makoto took Ran and Ren swimming during the summer, there were complications.

Ran didn’t know how to get her suit on, which she pined after her mother to help her (seeing as Makoto and Haru were boys, and Ren was a little girl, the two did not protest). And as for Ran, he decided he wanted to put his suit on all by himself.

Three out of the four stood by the front door, swim club ready, Ran hugging Makoto’s thigh during their wait for Ren. Makoto exchanged a look with Haru, who shrugged.

“Is he alright in there?” Makoto asked, looking down the hall again.

“Ren’s always late for everything,” Ran complained, shifting her grip on Makoto’s thigh.

Makoto sighed. “I should check on him, huh?” he asked. “At least make sure he’s not frustrated.” Ran released his thigh to go take Haru’s hand, a silent confirmation that Makoto should.

With a sigh, older brother Makoto headed a few steps down the hall before Ren came rushing out, tugging his bag onto his back. “I’m ready!” he said.

Makoto let himself relax, but part of him asked that he check. That part of him grew the longer he dwelled on it.

“Oh, so you got into everything okay?” Makoto asked, his hands on his hips. Ren nodded.

“Yup!”

“No problems getting on the suit, either?” Makoto asked.

Once again, Ren nodded. “Yup!”

“Did you take your underwear off first?” Makoto asked, arching a brow.

That question gave the boy pause. “Um…” Ren shifted, eyes flicking about before he returned them to Makoto. “Am I supposed to?”

Makoto suppressed a sigh. “Ah Ren,” Makoto said, crouching down in front of him. “You have to take your underwear off before you tug on the suit.”

Ren glanced down at his stomach, pulling up his shirt and pulling the waistband of his shorts to look at his underwear, the waistband bunched around his middle. He looked back at Makoto, his brow furrowed. “So I didn’t put it on right?”

Makoto explained it to him, “You’re supposed to take your underwear off first, and then put on the suit.”

Ren crinkled his eyes in the corners as though preparing to cry, pushing his bottom lip out as he pouted. “But why? I don’t want to take off my underwear,” he said.

Makoto tilted his head to the side, giving himself a moment to rest and gather his next approach; he figured it wouldn’t be that easy. Haru and Ran shuffled behind him, obvious in their concern for the conversation at hand.

“But you wear the swimsuit as underwear,” Makoto explained, holding up a finger. “So you don’t get your real underwear wet when you swim.”

Ren hazarded a moment to think about it, flicking his glance down at his underwear and then at Makoto.

Makoto chuckled. “You don’t want to get your underwear wet when you swim, do you?”

This seemed to make sense to him, for Ren’s pout underwent a metamorphosis, morphing into an expression of wide-eyed understanding. “Oh!” He said. “I should go do that so it doesn’t happen!” He rushed away from Makoto toward his room; however, he backtracked a few steps the second he reached the door, staring at his brother and Haru. “Can I wear them as underwears all the time?”

Makoto laughed a little; he supposed he should’ve prepared for this question. “Ren, these are only for—”

Haru cut him off. “Yes, yes you can,” he said, incapable of masking his approval of the situation.

Makoto froze. He sprung to clarify the situation when Ren started exciting himself. “Ah, he’s k-kidding, Ren—”

Once again, Haru cut him off. “You can wear them in the bath, too,” Haru explained.

Ren’s little shoulders rose in exhilaration, eyes gaining twinkle the longer he listened to Haru. “Okay!” he cheered, running toward his room.

“Wait,” Makoto called after him, shooting to his feet. “Ren, wait, don’t listen to Haru!”

“Why shouldn’t he listen to me?” Haru asked. He stopped Makoto from rushing after Ren by speaking. Ren threw his door closed as well. “He wants to wear them as underwear. He’s learning.”

Makoto turned to Haru with a face of disapproving confusion. “Learning what, exactly?”

Haru blinked at Makoto. “To be like me, of course,” he said.

Makoto turned his head down, closing his eyes. “Is this really the way you want to start influencing his life as his brother figure, Haru?”

“Yes. And he will learn to eat mackerel, too,” Haru said.

“Of course,” Makoto said, laughing out of nervousness.

They eventually went swimming after Ren had gotten his swimsuit situated; the only complication now was telling Ren that he shouldn’t wear his swimsuit as underwear, even if Haru told him to.


End file.
